Modular spice rack

ABSTRACT

A modular rack device designed to support and display spice bottles or like objects, comprising compartment means including a bottom, a front wall, a plurality of side walls and a rear wall for holding the bottles and attachment means including tongues and grooves and slots and ledges disposed in corresponding relation whereby a plurality of the devices may be affixed in laterally adjacent disposition to one another in side-by-side relation or in a staggered step-like fashion.

United States Patent [1 1 Winston Dec.3,1974

1 MODULAR SPICE RACK [76] lnventor: Emanuel A. Winston, 871 Marian Ave, Highland Park, 111. 60035 [22] Filed: May 29, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 364,810

[52] US. Cl. 312/111, 211/74 [51 1 Int. Cl. A47b 73/00, A47b 87/02 [58] Field of Search 211/148, 74; 312/263, 108,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 974,739 11/1910 Becker 312/107 2,283,301 5/1942 Waddell l 312/107 2,950,946 8/1960 Starworth 312/111 3,441,146 4/1969 Summers 312/111 3,550,981 12/1970 Cohen 312/257 3,552,817 1/1971 Marcolongo 312/107 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,242,225 8/1971 Great Britain 312/1 1 1 Primary E.\'aminerD0nald A. Griffin Allorney, Agent, or FirmStein and ()rman [57] ABSTRACT A modular rack device designed to support and display spice bottles or like objects, comprising compartment means including a bottom, a front wall, a plurality of side walls and a rear wall for holding the bottles and attachment means including tongues and grooves and slots and ledges disposed in corresponding relation whereby a plurality of the devices may be affixed in laterally adjacent disposition to one another in side by-side relation or in a staggered step-like fashion.

3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures mama; nan sum MODULAR SPICE RACK BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a modular rack device wherein each rack is constructed so that a plurality of the devices may be easily connected to one another along the side walls thereof. Each rack further includes a compartment suitable for the storage and display of a spice bottle or like object.

2. Description of the Prior Art Various types of modular containers are well known in the art. These types of containers have been particularly popular through the years because of their ease of assembly and because of the flexibility afforded by their modular construction.

Because of the ability of these type containers to readily assume various design configurations, they have been widely accepted for a number of uses. They have been adapted for use in storing books, office files, shoes, smaller objects such as nails, screws, etc., and they have even been incorporated into designs for sectional furniture. However, many of these containers employ construction involving unnecessarily large numbers of individual parts, whereby increasing the cost of the containers. While all of the prior art containers necessarily fit together, many of them do not interlock securely so as to form a rigid module. In none of the prior art containers are the attachment means constructed to allow for attachment in a staggered, step-like fashion.

One prior art device, US. Pat. No. 3,514,170, discloses stackable and interlocking containers having attachment means comprising correspondingly configured rectangular-shapedprojections and recesses. The device does not disclose the construction of the present invention whereby the rear walls of adjacent compartment means are interlocked.

Two other prior art devices, US. Pat. Nos. 2,506,844 and 3,219,400 disclose stackable, interlocking containers, but these containers are generally overly complex thereby being unnecessarily expensive and generally SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a modular rack device which includes compartment means for storing and displaying spice bottles or like objects and which further includes attachment means whereby a plurality of the racks may be affixed to one another in a side-by-side relation or in astaggered, step-like fashion. More specifically, the compartment means comprise a bottom, a front wall attached to the bottom, a plurality of side walls attached to the bottom and the front wall, and a rear wall attached to the bottom and the side walls. The side walls include lower portions of substantially the same size and shapeas the front wall and substantially V- shaped upper portions extending upwardly. The rear wall is of such size as to extend above the plane formed by the top of the front wall and the top of the side wall lower portions in corresponding relation to the side wall upper portions. The compartment means may be molded from plastic or some like substance in one piece or each element thereof may be made of wood, metal or some applicable material and attached to one another by conventional means. It should be noted that the exposed surfaces of the front and rear walls may be designed so as to present a decorative appearance.

The attachment means of the device comprise at least one substantially V-shaped groove formed in the lower portion of one side wall and one or more correspondingly V-shaped tongues formed on the lower portion of another side wall. The grooves and tongues are disposed on the side walls in corresponding relation whereby a plurality of the devices may be attached immediately adjacent one another or in a step-like fashion. The tongues and grooves include correspondingly configured outwardly tapered walls whereby attached devices are securely interlocked together.

The attachment means further comprise correspondingly disposed ledges and slots formed along the entire length of the side wall upper portions so that the rear walls of adjacent devices will be joined regardless of whether attached immediately adjacent one another or in a step-like fashion.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide individual compartments for the storage and display of spice bottles, each device being constructed to slidably interlock with adjacent units in an immediately adjacent arrangement or in a staggered, step-like fashion.

Another object of the present invention is to provide individual compartments constructed to slidably interlock with adjacent units to form a rigid module.

It is obvious that the size of each device may be varied to suit the object sought to be stored and displayed therein.

This invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the modular rack device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a side wall of the device showing the groove and ledge elements of the attachment means.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a side wall of the device showing the tongue and slot elements of the attachment means.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 66 of FIG. 1 showing a container (indicated by broken lines) placed in the compartment means of the device.

FIG. 7 is a front elevational view of a plurality of the devices showing possible configurations achieved when the devices are attached to each other.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION This invention relates to a modular rack device generally indicated as in FIG. 1 which is designed to hold spice bottles 12 or like objects. The device is designed so that a plurality of racks may be mounted immediately adjacent one another in corresponding registry therewith or in a staggered, step-like fashion, as best shown in FIG. 7 and as will be explained in detail hereinafter. As shown in the drawings, the rack is formed as a substantially cubical box having an open top and a partially open front. Of course, it should be obvious that this invention is intended to cover a modular rack device of the type described having any basic configuration and certainly is not limited to a cubical or boxlike configuration.

The rack comprises compartment means and attachment means. The compartment means comprise a bottom 14, a front wall 16, side walls generally indicated as 18, and a rear wall 20. Front wall 16 may be provided with decorative spindles 22 as best shown in FIG. 1. Side walls 18 comprise lower portions 24 and upper portions 26. As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, lower portion 24 is of substantially the same size as front wall 16, and upper portions 26 are substantially V-shaped. Rear wall 20 extends above the plane formed by the top of front wall 16 and lower portions 24 of side walls 18 in corresponding relation to upper portions 26. Rear wall 20 may also be provided with decorative spindles 22 as best shown in FIG. 1. The compartment means may be constructed from wood, metal or like material by employing nails, screws or similar devices (not shown) along the surfaces where bottom 14, front walls 16, side walls 18 and rear wall 20 abut.

The attachment means. comprise a plurality of substantially V-shaped grooves 28 formed in lower portion 24 of one of side walls 18, as best shown in FIG. 2. The attachment means further comprises a plurality of substantially V-shaped tongues 30 formed in lower portion 24 of another of side walls 18 as best shown in FIG. 3. Grooves 28 and tongues 30 are correspondingly configured and disposed in cooperative relation to one another whereby a plurality of the racks may attach one to another by inserting tongues 30 of one rack into corresponding grooves 28 of another rack. Grooves 28 and tongues 30 includes outwardly tapered walls 32 and 34, respectively, in order to provide stable attachment of racks to each other.

As best shown in FIG. 4 the attachment means further comprise a substantially V-shaped ledge 36 formed on upper portion 26 of side wall 18 having grooves 28 formed thereon along the abutment of upper portion-26 with rear wall 20, and a substantially V-shaped slot 38 formed along the abutment of upper portion 26 of side wall 18 having tongues 30 formed thereon with rear wall 20. Ledge 36 and slot 38 are formed in corresponding relation to one another along the rear walls 20 thereof when tongues 30 of one rack are inserted into grooves 28 of another rack.

A plurality of grooves 28 and tongues 30 are formed on the lower portions 24 of side walls 18 in spaced, corresponding relation to each other so that the racks can be mounted immediately adjacent one another or in a staggered, step-like fashion. Ledges 36 and slots 38 are formed along the entire length of upper portions 26 so that the rear walls 20 of adjacent racks will be joined regardless of whether the racks are attached immediately adjacent one another or in staggered, step-like fashion. These two configurations of attachment are best shown in FIG. 7.

It should be emphasized that, as pointed out above. one of the main features of this invention is that the racks are so constructed as to allow simple yet secure means for attaching a plurality of the racks to one an other in order to provide both a decorative and useful module for the storage of spice bottles or like objects.

It will thus be seen that the objects made apparent from the preceding description are efficiently attained, and since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Now that the invention has been described,

What is claimed is:

l. A modular rack device, said device comprising: compartment means comprising a bottom and a plural ity of walls, said plurality of walls including a front wall attached to said bottom, a plurality of side walls attached to said bottom and front wall, said side walls having lower portions of substantially the same size as said front wall and substantially V-shaped upper portions extending above said lower portions, and a rear wall extending in. corresponding relation to said side walls and attached to said bottom and side walls to define said compartment means having an open top and partially open front; and attachment means formed on two of said side walls, said attachment means comprising a plurality of substantially V-shaped grooves formed in said lower portion of one of said side walls and a plurality of substantially V-shaped tongues formed in said lower portion of another of said side walls, said attachment means further comprising a substantially V-shaped ledge formed on said side wall having said grooves formed thereon along the intersection of said upper portion with said rear wall and a substantially V-shaped slot correspondingly formed on said side wall having said tongues formed thereon. whereby a plurality of said devices may be attached to one another.

2. A device as in claim 1 wherein said grooves include outwardly tapered walls and wherein said tongues include correspondingly configured outwardly tapered walls.

3. A device as in claim 1 wherein said grooves and tongues and said ledge and slot are formed in corresponding relation to one another.

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1. A modular rack device, said device comprising: compartment means comprising a bottom and a plurality of walls, said plurality of walls including a front wall attached to said bottom, a plurality of side walls attached to said bottom and front wall, said side walls having lower portions of substantially the same size as said front wall and substantially V-shaped upper portions extending above said lower portions, and a rear wall extending in corresponding relation to said side walls and attached to said bottom and side walls to define said compartment means having an open top and partially open front; and attachment means formed on two of said side walls, said attachment means comprising a plurality of substantially V-shaped grooves formed in said lower portion of one of said side walls and a plurality of substantially V-shaped tongues formed in said lower portion of another of said side walls, said attachment means further comprising a substantially V-shaped ledge formed on said side wall having said grooves formed thereon along the intersection of said upper portion with said rear wall and a substantially V-shaped slot correspondingly formed on said side wall having said tongues formed thereon, whereby a plurality of said devices may be attached to one another.
 2. A device as in claim 1 wherein said grooves include outwardly tapered walls and wherein said tongues include correspondingly configured outwardly tapered walls.
 3. A device as in claim 1 wherein said grooves and tongues and said ledge and slot are formed in corresponding relation to one another. 